JFC is a well known importer of Sake and Japanese food stuffs and I was delighted to recently attend their Fall ’08 New York Sake Expo! As I traveled from table to table at the Expo, I met some very interesting people, and some very interesting sake.

First, I meet Mr. Kakutaro Kubo, Vice President of Ippongi Kubohonten Brewery, makers of Denshin. This sake is known for it’s luminescent packaging and it’s light and refined taste. Among the delicious Denshin options are the Denshin Yuki Junmai Ginjo, Denshin Rin Junmai Daiginjo, Denshin Ine Junmai. The taste on these sakes does indeed come across to me as light in style, which I really enjoy. In addition, people always remark on the Denshin Packaging. The bottle labels are made from rice paper with cut outs for the Kanji letters. When the bottle is held up to the light, the Kanji seems to glow. there is a different bottle color for each grade of sake making them easy to tell apart, and the junmai ginjo and junmai daiginjo grades get a paper wrap and tassel at the cap. beautiful! These gems are hard to miss on the shelf, so check them out if you can!

Next, I had to distinct honor of talking to the President of the renowned Daishichi Sake Brewery, Mr. Hideharu Ohta. I met Mr Ohta once before, over two years ago at a Daishichi tasting at Sakagura, but this time Ohta-san had a few more sakes in his protfolio and some really interesting sake at that. Daishichi is very well known for being a Kimoto brewery only.

The Big news fro Daishichi was the arrival of some very unique kimoto sakes. The most interesting was their kimoto plum sake. That’s right… A kimoto Plum sake. It’s light and sweet with a touch of cream that just hints at it’s Kimoto origins. Very beautiful right down to the yellow label. I also enjoyed drinking the Daishichi Kimoto Nigori. It was creamy and rich without being too chunky and I found this nigori to have just the right touch of sweetness. Thank goodness Daishichi is so committed to Kimoto… it’s a blast to taste kimoto versions of many popular kinds of sake. Arigato Ohta-san!

The final bit of super exciting sake news was the arrival of Cup Sake! well… it’s not yet actually in New York, but word on the street is that it’s coming! Anyone who knows me knows about my not so secret obsession with cup sake. Ok then JFC… you read it here first! NYC is the perfect market for cup sake, so let’s bring it in! Think big!

These trade events are a lot of fun and I really enjoy getting a chance to meet the folks who make the sake. I hope they enjoy meeting their eager NYC sake bloggers just as much.